Bound and Gagged

Interview with Bondage Photographer/Rigger

Slamm

 

Slamm has been directing bondage shoots for many years, and has amassed a large amount of original material, but has yet to open a website featuring his work.  He usually offers the results of shoots to the models, for use on their own websites.
     Slamm is well-known within the bondage industry, but still mostly a mystery man to bondage fans!

--Interview by BoundAndGagged.net


Slamm gags Amber MichaelsHow did you happen to get into directing bondage and fetish shoots?

It started as a hobby. I finally had reached the stage in my regular job where I had enough salary and vacation time built up to be able to do some traveling, and with the coming of the of mass communication outlets like specialty magazines and the Internet, I was able to meet some models. I already had a 35mm camera, and just did stills at first, not even bondage. More cheesecake than anything else. Then, as I wanted to get more adventuresome, I had to borrow an 8mm videocamera to actually begin to do my own videos. It was tough, believe me, asking the first few models if they would be willing to be tied up by me and then take pictures and video. Fortunately, more said yes than no. I don't know if I could stand too much rejection! I was also very fortunate to have a friend who owned his very own fetish video business. He introduced me to many of the models I work with today.

Did you study photography or videography formally, or were you self-taught?

I pretty much taught myself. Like most folks, it was a lot of trial and error. Fortunately, there were still bondage magazines available at the time, so I thought I could make my pictures at least as good as what I saw there. I did have some good fortune in that when I really started to get going, I had a friend critique a few of my early stills and video. He said that I always seemed to be shooting down at everyone -- it then dawned on me that as a guy well over 6 feet tall, I was towering over all the models, and shooting from that height distorted many of my pictures. I was making the models look like they all had rather large heads and small bodies, with stubby legs…not a good look for anybody! So, I learned that I had to get down lower so I was at the same height or lower than the models themselves. Suddenly, my picture-taking improved dramatically.

What was your first bondage shoot like? Do any memories about it stand out?

Boy, that was back in the mid-90s! I was shooting a model that really didn't even do bondage in a hotel room. She was more like a physique model, almost a bodybuilder-type. I had some ropes, and some cheap leather cuffs, and absolutely no external lighting! Everything turned out dark – the stills, and even worse, the video! I'm pretty sure she was more confident about the shoot than I was. Everything was pretty shaky back then. I think she could get out of just about any bondage I tried! Looking back now, it was pretty hilarious. Man, has it been 10 years now?

You're known for having fun low-pressure shoots. Please talk a little about your philosophy and approach regarding directing.

You are exactly right about that. I'm very much into everyone having a good time at my shoots. I'm a bit quirky in that I don't shoot any nudity or topless scenes – OK, at least, not intentionally! I basically have a couple of intentions – first, I don't want to do something that weirds the models out. I want everybody comfortable. Then, I give pretty minimal directions. I'll give a basic idea:

Dorothy finds Tasha all tied up when she gets home from work, and proceeds to take advantage of her without untying her! Meanwhile, Tasha's trying to warn Dorothy about WHY she's tied up, but can't because she's gagged.

Yep, ridiculous…but funny! I let the models run with it. So, having a real script? HAH! I don't need no stinkin' script! Most of the models have been in the biz for a while, and just about all of them have some pretty wild imaginations. So, on many of my shoots, it'll veer off into some wild and fun territory. We have to quit shooting sometimes to let everybody laugh it out. Oh yes, you need to feed everyone. Hungry models sometimes aren't as fun as the ones that are fed and happy. Yes, I've audited Bondage University…  I've also been known to provide costumes for the models. I was on a jungle girl kick for a while, and I also found a good belly dancer outfit. Finally, I tend to use the models I'm comfortable with. When people see my work, I think they are struck by the models I use. Most of them are very familiar to longtime bondage enthusiasts, and in addition to being lovely and fun, they are very professional and give me their all. 

What's a typical bondage shoot like?

Shoots usually are scheduled to last around 3-4 hours. I try to get about 30-40 minutes of video shot in that time. That will be about 3 or 4 scenarios, from 7-10 minutes each of video. Many times, I don't get that, because I also shoot lots of stills. I shoot the models both in and out of bondage. Lots of cheesecake on my shoots. As you know, I'm a big fan of bare feet…it's my fetish, and I'm sticking to it!

What bondage positions do you like best?

When I'm shooting with two models, I just love to have one model tease and torment the other. No position is better for that than a good spreadeagle! Also, a hogtie, when it's done right, is simply awesome.

What bondage materials do you most prefer?

I'm "famous" for my use of the Humane canvas straitjacket, in concert with leather hospital restraints, in a position I call the "Special".  Done right, it's inescapable; a reinforced jacket. I borrowed that position from a magazine article I saw many years ago. Mostly, I use leather restraints, cuffs and straps for my bondage. I've also used some kickass leather straitjackets too. That's mostly because I can't tie a knot worth a damn! I do use rope more nowadays. I watch a lot of Lorelei and Jon Woods and Eric Holman, and try to copy some of the techniques I see.

Where do you get the ideas for your shoots?

I try to come up with an outline for what I want to see before I arrive for a shoot. But, a lot of times, I've got some old Harmony and HOM magazines I get some ideas from, especially for the leather bondage. It depends on which model(s) I will be working with much of the time. Sometimes I get to team up some of my favorites, and they have ideas of what they want to do, since they are with their friends and acquaintances. One of the other reasons we have fun!

Describe one of your favorite bondage shoots that you can remember.

I did one with Star Chandler and Francesca Le several years back that was really strange. Francesca was helping me out as my still cameraperson when I shot Star. Star was really vamping, doing her best Farrah Fawcett impression. They had been acquainted with each other due to the business, but nothing more than that. But, during the course of the evening, with all the conversation that goes on during one of my shoots, they found out that they had pretty much grown up together. It was weird – Fran would mention being backstage at a concert, and Star would pick up with a story about an incident that had happened when she was at the same concert, and Fran would talk about the same incident and they could name names of folks that, sure enough, they both knew. Turns out they both were there, at the same concert, same room, same time, saw the same things, and were standing about 6 feet from each other – and yet, never met each other until that shoot with me, years later. They became best buds after that. That was just eerie…and cool at the same time. 

Describe one of the worst bondage shoots you can remember.

I had a shoot with a model who really didn't want to do anything. She wanted to take a lot of cheesecake stills, which we did, but when it came time to do the bondage, she just kept weaseling out of doing it. It was a nighttime shoot after a long day, and I just remember feeling tired, and very frustrated by her, since it was obvious she didn't want to work and by me, since I couldn't convince her to do so. She was much younger than most of the models I use, and I think she believed that just by spending her allotted time with me, that was enough to earn her pay. Most everyone I've worked with believes in working for their pay, I'm glad to say. What made it worse was that I had another shoot scheduled the next morning, and that model never even showed. So, it was a lost weekend, for sure.

Who have you worked with? You don't have to remember everyone, just some.

You can find a lot of my handiwork on these websites. Stacy Burke has a lot of my stuff on I think two of her sites. Hollywood's got a lot of my stuff on her sites, too!

STACY BURKE http://www.bondagechick.com

HOLLYWOOD http://www.hollywoodbondage.com 

DOROTHY LAINE http://www.straitjacketbound.com

MOLLY MATTHEWS http://www.subgirl.com 

STAR CHANDLER http://www.starchandler.com (site retired)

FRANCESCA LE http://www.missfrancescale.com 

In addition, I've worked with Olivia Chase, Elise DiMedici, Joy Marks, Janet Kennedy, Darla Crane, Ashley Renee, Sharon Kane, Devin DeMoore, Angella Faith, Tasha Welch, Kelsie Chambers, and some others who'll be mad that I didn't mention them... 

Anything else you would like to say?

I have a LOT of fun doing what I do. The best part is getting to meet so many nice and wonderful folks. It makes my time doing all of this very special. I don't have a website of my own yet, but I'm working on it. I have quite the stash of photos and videos. You'll be among the first to know when I finally get it going!